Confluence Investment Management LLC Sells 4,983 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Confluence Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 338,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,983 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for 2.2% of Confluence Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $161,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Linde by 566.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $851,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558,538 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 47,830.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after buying an additional 934,123 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after buying an additional 463,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $210,480,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $465.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $221.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.34, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $389.14 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $472.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $452.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.